Father slashes son's throat, nearly decapitating 2-year-old: police

Rolando Ortiz, 37, was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of his 2-year-old son, police said.
(Chicago Police Department)

A Chicago man was charged with murder Thursday for allegedly slitting the throat of his 2-year-old son to the point of “near decapitation,” authorities said.

Rolando Ortiz, 37, was looking after his son, Mateo Garcia Aguayo, on Wednesday afternoon, but became frustrated because the child was “running around and was keeping him awake,” Area Central Detectives Cmdr. Brendan Deenihan said during a news conference, according to the Chicago Tribune.

That’s when Oritz held his son down and cut his throat with a kitchen knife, Deenihan said, according to the paper. The father then tried to slit his own wrists after realizing what he had done, Deenihan added.

“Mateo wasn’t old enough to make a bad decision. Mateo wasn’t old enough to take the wrong path in life,” Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said, according to the Tribune. “He was just an innocent kid whose trust and safety was betrayed by one man he should never have to question: his father.”

"He was just an innocent kid whose trust and safety was betrayed by one man he should never have to question: his father."

— Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson

According to police:

Ortiz placed the body in a trash bag, and unsuccessfully attempted to call his wife at work. He then dialed his sister-in-law to confess to the brutal crime.

The woman contacted two family members, who live on the floor below, to check on the child where they discovered Mateo in the garbage bag and Ortiz bleeding.

Ortiz fled as the family called 911 but was apprehended roughly four hours later in Kankakee, Ill., with the help of several agencies, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

He was taken back to Chicago where he confessed to the killing of his son Wednesday, authorities said.

Mateo had six other siblings, but none were home at the time of the killing. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said according to the Times.

Oritz faces one count of first-degree murder, the Tribune reported.

Benjamin Brown joined Fox News in 2016 and currently serves a multimedia reporter based in Las Vegas.